The multiple amplifier matching problem involves placing one or more amplifiers into a lumped network to maximize the transducer power gain, minimize the noise figure, and maintain stability. An optimally designed lumped network permits the largest input signal to be stably transferred to the output.
Typically, amplifier matching is performed by the amplifier designer fixing a circuit topology, constraining the lumped element values, and undertaking a multi-objective optimization over the constrained element values. The difficulty with this approach is that there are many lumped network topologies, forcing the amplifier designer to undertake a massive search to determine an optimal lumped network topology.
A need exists for a method that can be used by amplifier designers to, given multiple amplifiers, determine an optimal lumped network topology that maximizes gain, minimizes noise, and maintains stability.